


Blood-flecked Smile

by tailor31415



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Dubious Sanity, Experimentation, Friendship, Gen, Mild Gore, Protective!Arthur, Torture, whumped!Merlin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-26
Updated: 2013-10-26
Packaged: 2017-12-30 13:14:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1019035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tailor31415/pseuds/tailor31415
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was a young man on the screen, laid out on a table. His back was arched, his head tilted back and his mouth hung open in a silent scream. Blue light danced over his skin, culminating in a blue sphere clenched in one hand. <br/>And that was no science-fiction film - Arthur recognized that room. Recognized it because he had spent every day for weeks in a room just like it.<br/>That room was somewhere in the building, and Arthur was going to find it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blood-flecked Smile

**Author's Note:**

> Fulfilling the prompt 12 of Merlin Horror: 'Arthur as a researcher who discovers his father's company has a dark secret -s experimentation not only with magic but on magic users as well. He manages to sneak onto one of the projects, and befriends its subject - Merlin. Arthur tries to plan for Merlin's escape, but the subjects try to spring themselves before he can act. Arthur gets trapped in the chaos and now it's up to Merlin to help Arthur escape.'  
> Beta courtesy of ynysafallon - much thanks!

  


When Uther called Arthur to his office in the middle of the day, Arthur was torn between telling his father to stuff it – a simulation Arthur was running for his dissertation was almost complete – and running up the nearest staircase because it had been weeks since he’d seen that office.  
  
He took the middle ground though, and waited for the simulation to finish before making his way to the elevator. Arthur wouldn’t even be in Pendragon Co. if it weren’t summer – the biological research facilities in lower level of the building were far superior to any offered by his school, with the added benefit of laboratory technicians available for help while the undergraduates were on their break.  
  
Uther’s secretary, a man Uther proclaimed had been by his side since Uther had started the company, gave him a look when he finally reached the office, but Arthur just shrugged at him and then straightened his shoulders. Certain the man was rolling his eyes behind his back, Arthur waited until he heard the buzzer on the intercom and made his way into the office, rapping his knuckles on the door as he walked through.  
  
“Arthur,” his father said, pen moving across a paper on his desk. Arthur walked to the open space before his father and waited, arms straightened carefully at his sides, until the man finally looked up. “I hope you’ve had a productive summer,” Uther added, placing the pen down and folding his hands. He looked over Arthur for a long moment and then nodded at the empty chair in front of the desk.  
  
Taking the seat quickly, Arthur nodded and replied, “I’ve been successful in accomplishing quite a lot here. Thank you again for the use of your facilities.”  
  
Uther waved the thanks off, then lifted his chin slightly, leaning back in his chair. “That’s what I called you up to speak to you about. While you’re here for the time being, I’d like you to experience what Pendragon Company is working on, so you have a better idea what you’ll be managing someday.”  
  
Arthur swallowed hard, because he should have seen this coming. “Of course,” he started slowly, the chance to finally finish his dissertation slipping further away with each syllable.  
  
“Wonderful,” Uther exclaimed, opening a drawer and pulling out a new identification badge. “This will get you into the lower laboratories, where you’ll be stationed for the rest of the summer. I expect a report from you once a week on what you’re learning down there.”  
  
Arthur took the badge with a stiff smile on his face. “Of course, father, I’ll do my best to make you proud.”  
  
As he stood, Uther nodded his head, “Of course.” He had already turned back to his work before Arthur even turned around.  
  
Clenching the badge in his hand, Arthur strode out of the room with a frozen smile on his face. He nodded to the secretary, making his way back out into the hallway. The rest of the summer was sure to be full of Uther giving him hard stares and displeased looks over his progress in the labs. Arthur just hoped he could make a breakthrough in something down there, just so Uther would clap him on the shoulder and give him one of his rare smiles. 

  


The first few days in the lab, Arthur spend his time meeting the various other scientists and becoming familiar with the new project he’s been assigned. It’s outside his field of study – having to do with an aggressive possible strain of flu virus, but Arthur’s thankfully had enough courses he can muddle his way through.  
  
He makes his way home one evening with an itching between his shoulders like someone’s watching him. Every time he turns, he’s alone and Arthur makes his way to the town car quickly. While he and Uther could easily ride together, as they live in the same building, Uther prefers a solitary trip, and has already left for the night.  
  
The entire ride, Arthur feels chilled in the town car, and he tries to ask the driver to turn off the air several times, but the man insists it isn’t even running. He’s shivering by the time he makes it up to his flat, cranking up the heat the moment he’s through the door to try to chase the cold away.  
  
He’s standing before his wardrobe when there’s a soft noise behind him, almost like the rustling of fabric, but when Arthur turns the room is empty. He watches the mirror carefully as he pulls of his jacket, but there’s movement behind him. With a shrug, he pulls out a hanger for his jacket and, just as he’s placing it on the hanger bar, there’s a whisper of “Arthur Pendragon” in his ears.  
  
A chill shivers its way down his spine and the hanger falls from his hand as his grip goes slack. Arthur turns, back slamming up against the wardrobe as he peers around the room. “Who’s there?” he calls, looking around the edge of the door.  
  
The room is empty and he scrubs at his eyes, then shakes his head slightly. He had pulled far more hours than he should have the past week – trying to adjust to the new position and then having to make up a report to give Uther that morning – and perhaps he’s just tired.  
  
He’s bending down for his crumbled jacket when there’s a creak above him. There’s something like a hard tug against his collar and Arthur trips back over his feet as he loses his balance, just as the wardrobe crashes to the ground a mere hair’s breadth from where he’s sitting.  
  
Arthur stares at the fallen object, breath suddenly hard to catch, and scrabbles back as best he can on shaking arms. One hand drifts up to his neck to rub at where his collar bit into his throat, and he breathes out shakily when it doesn’t seem to have left a mark.  
  
His gaze drifts over the room again, almost completing a scan when a soft glow catches his attention from the far corner of the ceiling. There’s some sort of bright light suspended there, looking almost like a blue marble lit from within, and it drifts slowly towards Arthur where he’s sitting on the floor by the bed.  
  
Arthur closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and stands quickly, carefully avoiding looking towards the corner. He calmly and surely makes his way back out to the entrance of his flat, grabbing his keys and wallet on his way and shoving his feet into his shoes, before exiting and pulling the door quietly shut behind himself.  
  
He collapses back against the door the moment it’s shut, hands locking around his knees as he pulls him up.  
  
It takes a while for the adrenaline rush to fade from his system, and when it does, he makes his way back down to the street and catches a cab to the nearest hotel. 

  


His weekend is event-free after that, though he is careful to never be alone in a room besides to sleep, and Arthur is cautious as he returns to work on Monday. He forgets all about the wardrobe incident, and the glowing orb that he still hasn’t convinced himself he really saw, once he starts in on a new experiment. Before he knows it, Arthur’s been working all day and it’s already after five. The lab is quiet as everyone else must have left while Arthur was absorbed in his work.  
  
Having just finished another test, Arthur is fully prepared to head home, and is almost down the hall towards the stairs before he recalls he was going to invite Leon, the night security guard, to the weekly footie match with some of his friends from uni. He turns back towards the security booth, pleased to see the door open as he makes his way down the hallway.  
  
Pushing the door open slightly, Arthur starts to enter when his gaze is caught by an image on one of the security feeds. There’s what looks like a young man lying on a table, but Arthur’s attention is focused on the blue light surrounding him, most notably in the form of a blue light in his palm. He’s about to open his mouth to ask about the feed when Leon turns from where he was reading a book.  
  
“Arthur!” he exclaims, twisting around in his chair, “I didn’t know anyone was still here!”  
  
“Was wondering if you’d be interested in…” Arthur says slowly, eyes fixed on the screen, where the young man’s mouth is now open and his back is arching off the table.  
  
Leon turns his head to look at the screen and then back at Arthur. He laughs loudly and awkwardly and slaps a button on the console before him, screen going dark. “Just one of those sci-fi movies,” he says. “Don’t tell anyone you caught me watching it, yeah?” Leon adds with a wink.  
  
Arthur starts to frown, but catches himself and nods back at Leon. “Wouldn’t tell a soul. Now, footie match this Saturday?”  
  
Leon grins back at him, “I’ll be there.”  
  
Nodding at him again, Arthur’s gaze jumps to the still-dark screen once more before he backs out of the room.  
  
Because that wasn’t a scene from a movie – no, the floor tiles matched perfectly what was used in the lab here, and even the pale blue walls were the same as what surrounded Arthur as he made his way down the hall.  
  
He opened the door to the stairs and paused for a moment, turning his head to look at the elevator instead. The display above showed this as the bottom floor, but Arthur went over and pressed the call button anyway.  
  
Inside, he inspected the panel carefully. He remembered a few weeks back when he had caught a ride with a coworker to a dinner gathering – they had had to drive up several floors to reach the street from the underground garage, but this floor was only one beneath ground level.  
  
The floor panel didn’t have any extra buttons or key slots, and Arthur was about to hit the ground floor button when he noticed right above the panel there was a slight crease in the metal of the elevator wall. He pressed on the edge once and felt a spring release beneath and a small door swung out. A card reader was revealed, set into the wall, and Arthur pulled his identification badge out to inspect the back, where his swipe strip was located.  
  
Arthur looked back and forth between the two for a few moments, and then he pressed the panel door closed and hit the ground floor button. 

  


Over the course of the next week, Arthur carefully split his time between his assigned project, whenever another scientist was sharing the same laboratory space, and his own personal project, whenever he knew he would be alone. He was going through older experimental reports as subtly as he could manage – because every inquiry he made with the electronic system was logged and could presumably be checked and verified by some other employee six floors up.  
  
No, Arthur was careful to only look up reports from projects that he could easily argue related to his own – or ones whose keyword searches could perhaps be interpreted to related to his own in a rather obscure way.  
  
He was careful to have an excuse for every file he looked at on the tip of his tongue at all times.  
  
Arthur found what he was looking for after four days – a vaguely worded abstract on a potential project to investigate the immune system response of a magic user, and the possible use of such response to attack viruses in other bodies. He prepared a carefully worded email, used his father’s authorization codes – only known because of the time on one of his more recent birthdays when he had had to fetch a drunk Uther from his office after hours and Uther had been muttering the code over and over aloud as he tried to complete a document that wasn’t even pulled up on his computer – and submitted it to the head of a department whose office Arthur hadn’t been able to locate in the company’s directory.  
  
He waited in anticipation for a full day, and on Friday morning, he received a response that he was welcome to join the project, and that he could report to a floor several below where he currently was sitting, that his keycard would access the floor on the elevator. An intern named Gwen would meet him there in less than fifteen minutes, so Arthur quickly packed up his work and left his notes from his current project neatly organized at his desk.  
  
The elevator was quiet as it descended, display overhead unchanging from its backlit ‘B’ for the basement level he had just left. He was at least several floors down – the ride was too long to just be one level – and he folded his arms over his chest to keep from fidgeting. Just as the elevator was shuddering to a stop, Arthur breathed out slowly and watched curiously as his breath fogged up the air before him. He blinked and started to turn his head, but he froze when soft, low whisper came to his ear, sending goosebumps rising on the back of his neck. “Arthur,” the voice hissed slowly, “You’re finally….”  
  
He jumped as it was cut off, the metal doors before him hissing as they started to slide open. Arthur shook his head, touching the back of his neck to find it warm to the touch though he felt chilled down to his bones.  
  
When the doors opened, it was to the sight of a young woman, eyes fixed on the ground as she waited in front of the elevator. She looked up immediately as Arthur began to step forward and smiled, though her lips looked pinched and the lines around her eyes tight. “I’m Gwen,” she said, extending a hand, “And you’re Arthur, right? I was told to come over here and get you this morning, show you around the lab. You’ll be working on the…” She paused for a breath, hand falling away from Arthur’s.  
  
Before she could speak again, Arthur cut in, “On the immune system project.” As she nodded, he glanced around – the hallway looked the same as the one upstairs, though there were several extra security cameras set in the ceiling. As he stepped further forward, the elevator doors slid shut behind him. Turning to look, he saw there was no call button – or even an overhead display of the floors. “Oh,” Gwen said softly, “Yes, well, you need to stop by security so they can call the elevator for you.” She pointed at a door a distance down the hall. “For, you know, security purposes.”  
  
Her fingers were tightly weaved together when Arthur looked back and he merely nodded, “Of course. I understand,” trying to inject as much warmth into his tone as possible.  
  
She must have heard it, because the smile she gave him now was a little more comfortable. “Well, your…work will be conducted right this way. Most of the laboratories here are split between a, a work area and an observation area. There are strict protocols regarding the treatment of each, and you’ll be given an orientation into those later today.” She led him down the hallway, gesturing at a few closed doors, some with small windows so that Arthur could see his new colleagues working away, and some completely sealed.  
  
“I can show you were the,” she paused, biting her lip, and glanced back at him. “The subjects are kept.”  
  
Arthur nodded as stiffly as possible, shifting his hands to clench them together behind his back. “Lead on then.”  
  
“Right,” she replied, turning back and hurrying down the hall. She came to a turn and when Arthur caught up to her, he was looking down a set of several halls, all with visible forks and bends, and he blinked in surprise.  
  
“This is much larger than I expected,” he commented.  
  
Gwen started down the first left hallway, “Not all the rooms are in use. They’re mainly…security measures as well.”  
  
Arthur swallowed again and followed her as she made her way towards a solid steel door set next to a glass wall. “This,” she said, drawing up in front of the viewing area, “Is the subject you’ll be working with. His code is Emrys.” She gestured in the room where, in a darkened corner, a young man was curled up on a small cot. Arthur could barely make out more than tuffs of black hair from under the thin sheet, but as he peered in, Emrys’ eyes flashed open and he stared out at Arthur. Gwen gave a soft sigh, and murmured under her breath, “He likes to be called Merlin though.” She turned and started back down the hall.  
  
“Merlin,” Arthur echoed softly, staring in at the man. Just as he turned, he imagined he saw a flash of a smile along Merlin’s lips, and he surely imagined the whisper of ‘Arthur’ in his ears, sounding just like before in the elevator.  
  
He glanced over his shoulder as he moved away, but Merlin had rolled over and was curled back under the sheet.  
  
Gwen led him down several empty, dark halls, taking seemingly random turns, and then they were back where they had started. “It’d be best if you waited to see the others until later,” Gwen explained, “I know they wanted to get you started as soon as possible.” She swallowed and leaned close to him, adding softly, “Why are you really here?”  
  
Arthur flinched and started to glance up towards the ceiling. “No,” Gwen hissed, “We’re perfectly hidden from the cameras right here.”  
  
He ducked his head a bit closer to her and replied, “I came to see what this truly was.” Her breath caught in her throat as she started up at him, but her eyes were fixed on his with an intensity he couldn’t look away from, and Arthur couldn’t help but add, “I came to see if I could stop it.”  
  
The smile she gifted him with in reply was wide and full. “Good,” she declared, leaning back slightly. “That’s why I’m here as well.” She extended a hand towards him again, “A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Pendragon. I wish you success in all your endeavors here.”  
  
Arthur took her hand once again and gave it a firm shake. “To you as well.”  
  
She gestured back down the hallway and said, “Your office space is the third door down on the right.” 

  


His first day was spent reviewing the project records so far, and watching the experimental data videos as he grit his teeth and forced himself to keep his eyes fixed on the footage.  
  
Arthur had known growing up that his father had an extreme dislike for magic users, and he knew it had something to do with his mother’s death. But Arthur would have never imagined it to go this far. Magic users were a rare percentage of the population, but their rights were equal to those of any citizen.  
  
And the kind of experiments Arthur was watching, well, they would most likely be illegal even if the subjects were willing.  
  
He was in the middle of watching a video that had a soundtrack mainly comprised of Merlin screaming ‘Please, stop!’ when an older man bustled in and clapped his hands once. “Good, good,” he said, approaching Arthur’s desk, “I see you’re already catching up on the project.” As he extended a hand, he added, “I’m Dr. Sarrum, project director.” Arthur stood slowly, closing out the video just as Merlin began screaming, and took the man’s hand. And if he gripped a little tighter than he usually would, he certainly wouldn’t apologize.  
  
Sarrum gave him a small nod and went on to say, nearly gleeful, “I actually came because we’re conducting another experiment in a moment, part two of something we started yesterday. You’re welcome to come along and watch.”  
  
“Of course,” Arthur replied, quickly scooping up a notebook and a pen. “Lead the way.”  
  
As Sarrum led him from the room, he leaned close to Arthur and said softly, “Between us, I was quite excited to see Uther’s son expressing interest in the work down here.” He gave Arthur a small wink, that Arthur returned with a tight smile, and added, “Uther is always quite invested in our projects, and I supposed you’re planning to continue carrying them out in the future?”  
  
Pulling on his best diplomatic face, Arthur gave him something between a nod and a shrug and replied, “That depends fully on the results I see during my time here.”  
  
“Oh, you won’t be disappointed,” the older man replied, smug. “These magic users,” he started, spitting out the term like it was a curse, “make the best test subjects. Quite durable, they are.”  
  
Arthur nodded stiffly, and entered an observation room behind Sarrum. Through the one-way mirror, he could see Merlin, strapped into a chair and chest exposed to the air and heaving as he gasped for breath.  
  
He forced himself to look over the other man, eyes catching on the various scars that covered his body. His chest and shoulders were covered with many, some clearly from burns and some from what appeared to be cuts and slashes. There were some that Arthur couldn’t identify, twisted into odd shapes or looking waxy almost like a burn scar.  
  
Merlin’s head dropped as his back relaxed out of its arch, and Arthur caught his eyes through the mirror – or would have if Merlin could see through. The eyes locked on his flashed gold for a moment, and Arthur flinched as a wide, blood-flecked smile broke out on Merlin’s face.  
  
“Magic flare,” Sarrum muttered from beside him, scribbling into his notes, “Rather unusual.”  
  
Arthur swallowed, drawing his eyes away as he looked over the control panel. “What is the objective of this experiment?” he asked, clearing his throat when his voice came out hoarse.  
  
Dr. Sarrum dropped into an explanation involving neural virus cells that required an activation injection, and Arthur was able to fade his voice out as he looked back towards Merlin. Merlin was still smiling through the glass at him, and when Arthur took a slight step to the side, his golden eyes tracked his movement.  
  
“Go ahead and shut it off,” Sarrum ordered the technician and Arthur watched as Merlin’s eyes closed in relief and he sagged back into the metal chair.  
  
Sarrum clapped him on the shoulder as he passed by towards the door and started to say, “The data will be –”  
  
“Could I speak to him?” Arthur cut in. When Sarrum froze and turned slowly back towards him, he quickly added with as much confidence as he could, “Only to get a better perspective into the previous work done on the project. I figure he had the best idea of what’s been done so far and the relative success of the experiments.”  
  
Sarrum’s eyes narrowed as he studied Arthur for a moment, and then he shrugged. He nodded towards the technician, who hit a button that turned a display from ‘Locked’ to ‘Unlocked,’ and Sarrum jerked his chin towards the observation window. “You’ll have a few minutes before I send Aredian in to get him. He takes…care….of all our subjects.”  
  
“Very good,” Arthur replied, following Sarrum out the door and turning towards the experiment chamber. “I’ll be seeing you later then,” he called over his shoulder as Sarrum strode off.  
  
He swallowed again and pushed open the door. 

  


Merlin was shifting slightly in his bonds as Arthur made his way into the room. His eyes snapped to Arthur’s face as Arthur approached and that same smile came over his face. When Arthur reached his side, Merlin gazed up at his face and breathed out, “Arthur.”  
  
“Yes,” Arthur replied, eyes falling from Merlin’s to watch his pulse racing at his throat.  
  
“I didn’t think Kilgharrah really meant it,” Merlin mused, voice hoarse and cracking.  
  
Arthur furrowed his brow and asked, “Kilgharrah?”  
  
Merlin grinned at him, “Just wait ‘til you see him.” His hand shifted, and his fingers stretched out towards Arthur’s, coming just short.  
  
Arthur shifted his body until he was blocking the technician’s view of them, then touched their fingers together. Merlin’s breath caught in his throat and he muttered, “See, Gaius, he’s real.”  
  
Arthur glanced around and looked back towards Merlin. The young man shook sweaty hair out of his eyes and shrugged, “I forgot, I’m not supposed to talk about Gaius.” His eyes flicked around the room and then he jerked his head slightly. Arthur leaned down closer to him and Merlin whispered, “He’s dead but I can still see him.”  
  
Jerking back, Arthur stared at Merlin as the other looked up at him with bright eyes, a small smirk dancing across his lips. “You’re not how I imagined though,” Merlin mused, looking Arthur up and down.  
  
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Arthur finally managed to say, snapped out of the silence he had found himself in.  
  
Merlin gave him a small shrug, fingers twitching against Arthur’s. “Always thought you’d be more fit.”  
  
Mouth dropping open, Arthur looked down at his body and back up at Merlin, “I’m plenty fit!”  
  
The young man laughed, and then coughed weakly and sagged back into the chair. “Right, well,” Arthur said suddenly, realizing that he was holding Merlin’s hand and had a distinct urge to brush his hair away from his forehead and he’d just spent minutes watching the man be tortured.  
  
Merlin’s fingers squeezed tight around his hand when he tried to pull away however, and Merlin said softly, “Are you leaving already? But, we haven’t even done anything yet.”  
  
Arthur swallowed, and brought up his other hand to pat at the back of Merlin’s. “No, not leaving. Just going away for a bit.”  
  
Smiling up at him, Merlin nodded and loosened his grip until Arthur could pull his hand away. “And you don’t need to worry about Nimueh anymore,” Merlin informed him, “I took care of her for you.” The smile fell away from his face as he spoke and the look of dark satisfaction on his face threw a chill up Arthur’s spine.  
  
“What do you –” he started to ask, interrupted as a new man strode into the room through the open door.  
  
“Alright, Emrys,” he declared, voice snide and nearly mocking, “Ready for a nap now?”  
  
Merlin’s eyes narrowed at him and, as Aredian passed behind the chair to reach for, well, what Arthur hadn’t even noticed before but saw now was some sort of collar hooked onto the side of the chair, gave Arthur one last smile. ‘Come back,’ he mouthed at Arthur as Aredian latched the collar around his throat.  
  
A series of lights lit up on it and Merlin sucked in a pained breath. Arthur backed out of the room as Aredian roughly undid his cuffs and bonds and tugged him out of the chair by the collar. 

  


The first thing Arthur did upon returning to his office was look up the records of ‘Nimueh.’ There was no record under active subjects, but Arthur was able to find her file in the ‘past subjects’ database.  
  
Her first entry was from years before, and when Arthur took a closer look at the date, he realized it was from just a year after his birth. Opening up the record, the only word in the details section was ‘captured.’  
  
Arthur swallowed and scrolled down her files until he reached the latest – from just a week before. The details under this one read out ‘Casualty – battle simulation with Subject Emrys. Unable to revive.’  
  
He swallowed back against the nausea creeping into his throat and heard Merlin’s words echo in his head again. ‘Took care of her for you,’ he’d said. Arthur scrolled back up and looked at the picture attached to the file, the most current one – her face was oddly familiar but they had certainly never met. He knew she had never done anything to him – what reason would he need protection from her from Merlin? – but tried to fix her face into his memory anyway. 

  


Arthur slept fitfully that night, waking several times to having sweated through his shirt and then his sheet. He had one vivid dream though, that he could remember clearly even after waking. He dreamt of Merlin, but not Merlin as he had seen him the day before, weak and tired, no, this Merlin was standing up straight and tall, shouting something as his eyes flashed a brilliant gold. He had been shouting at a woman, a woman that Arthur realized upon waking had been Nimueh. He had been shouting at her to ‘leave him alone,’ that taking his life wouldn’t be the revenge she had waited for. Nimueh had laughed at him, and said teasingly that maybe she wanted both, slamming what Arthur couldn’t believe was a fireball into Merlin’s chest and throwing him back.  
  
Arthur had woken when Merlin had struggled up and thrown something that looked like a lightning bolt back at Nimueh. His vicious smile, even as his chest dripped with blood, was the last thing Arthur could recall.  
  
He shuddered his way through a cold shower, trying to throw off the memory of the nightmare, and had to rush through the rest of his morning rituals to get to Pendragon Co. on time.  
  
Gwen greeted him at the elevator again, and this time before she walked off, she whispered, “Be careful, Sarrum is suspicious.”  
  
Arthur gave her a nod and made his way down to his office. Sarrum was waiting outside his door, seemingly occupied with reading something on his tablet, but he looked up as Arthur approached. “There you are, good,” he declared, following Arthur in after he unlocked the door. “I wanted to let you know we have a meeting with Uther at the end of next week, to present our findings on this project.”  
  
Grateful Sarrum was behind him, Arthur carefully schooled the surprise away from his face before turning back. “I look forward to it.”  
  
The project leader studied him for a moment and gave him a smile that was discomforting to see on his features, “I’m sure he will be pleased as well.” He turned and started out, muttering under his breath, “More pleased than about this mess with Nimueh.”  
  
Arthur stared after him and then sat down quickly. He folded his hands before him and swallowed several times before he could bring himself to pull up the data from the previous day. He had to continue to appear to be working, or Sarrum would be quick to kick him back upstairs, and Arthur spent the better half of the day organizing the data and writing up the results relating to the previous experiment he had missed.  
  
In the afternoon, he spent nearly an hour going through the protocols, and figured out how to send a message to Aredian to arrange for Merlin to be brought up to him for a short ‘experiment.’ He planned to spend the time talking with Merlin instead, but still had to write up a proposal to perform testing on Merlin’s response to extreme conditions.  
  
He arranged with Gwen to have an ice bath brought up to one of the testing rooms, and Aredian delivered Merlin right on time. He looked over the room and glanced at Arthur. “Just the water?” he asked, “I can supply you with anything else you need. I have quite the collection of…implements ready at all times.”  
  
Arthur met his eyes and replied, “Not this time. I’ll let you know when I’ll have need of them.”  
  
Aredian gave him a twisted smile and handed over the lead to Merlin’s collar. “Have fun with him,” the man remarked as he turned to leave, “He’s perky today so you should get plenty out of him.”  
  
Lifting a hand in a wave, Arthur watched until Aredian had left the room and then turned towards Merlin. Merlin was already smiling at him, eyes fixed on Arthur’s face with a hunger that surprised him. “You came back,” Merlin remarked, swaying close to Arthur as if to press his forehead into his shoulder.  
  
“I said I would,” Arthur replied, one hand rising to clap against Merlin’s shoulder.  
  
Merlin winced slightly and threw him a disgruntled look before he remarked, “Lots of people said they’d come back and never did.” His eyes were wide and bright, contrasting against the dark circles ringing them, as Merlin added, “But I was born for you, wasn’t I, so, of course you’d come back.”  
  
Arthur swallowed and took a step away from Merlin. “Right, that’s exactly what I wanted to talk about.”  
  
Merlin wavered on his feet, arms folding to wrap around his stomach, and he interrupted before Arthur could get any further, “Can I sit down please, or must I stand when in your presence?”  
  
There was just enough of a tease in the words that the pang of guilt Arthur felt could quickly be brushed aside, but he nodded immediately and led Merlin over to the far wall. “Sit here and just wait for a moment,” he ordered, having to look away from Merlin’s trusting gaze as the young man stared up at him from the floor.  
  
Arthur backed away slowly, eyes locked with Merlin’s until he reached the door, and he declared firmly, “I’m coming back in just a moment,” as he pulled it shut behind himself.  
  
Striding over to the attached observation room, Arthur checked that there was no technician, as he had specified, and pocketed the key that would allow him to open the testing room from the inside.  
  
Arthur peered through the mirror before leaving the room, watching as Merlin tugged on the collar around his neck with a pained expression on his face, muttering to himself all along.  
  
When he opened the door again, Arthur caught the tail end of Merlin’s mutterings, “…going to do marvelous things, you’ll see, Gaius….of course he’ll be fine, I’ve been protecting him all these years and –” Merlin cut off when he looked up and saw Arthur, a smile breaking out over his face.  
  
Arthur approached him quickly, firmly shutting the door behind himself, and knelt down in front of Merlin. He fumbled at the collar for a moment and found the latch, opening it easily. “It’s keyed so I can’t open it,” Merlin explained, in response to Arthur’s questioning look, “me and the others that is.”  
  
“Others?” Arthur asked, placing the collar on the floor next to them carefully and settling back off his knees.  
  
Merlin nodded, fingers running along his bared neck, and Arthur tried to stop looking at the rough, scarred skin there. “Not that any of them would take mine off, but they’d probably try to help each other.” He paused for a moment and then shrugged, “Maybe Mordred.”  
  
Arthur caught his hand, stopping the almost frantic rubbing that was leaving worst red marks, “What others? How many are there?”  
  
Merlin’s eyes shifted to their clasped hands and then up to Arthur’s face. He smiled, “Oh, you are going to do wonderful things, aren’t you? Kilgharrah doesn’t make much sense about some things but he was pretty clear about that.”  
  
Other hand coming up to Merlin’s shoulder, Arthur gave him a small shake. “How many, Merlin?”  
  
Merlin’s eyes went wide as he sucked in a breath. “Oh, can you call me that again?”  
  
“Merlin,” Arthur said firmly, giving him a stern look.  
  
He shook his head slightly, as if to clear it, with a small smile on his face as he looked down at his hand. “Well, there’s me, and Mordred, and….well there was Gilly, but I haven’t seen him in a while so I don’t know, and Sophie and her father, but I suppose they aren’t here anymore. There is…no, there was Nimueh,” he remarked slowly “Because she’s gone now,” he added with satisfaction, eyes flashing up to Arthur’s.  
  
Arthur nodded and gestured with his free hand for Merlin to continue. “And, Morgause, and maybe Anhora, but he wasn’t doing well last time I saw him.” He pauses and takes a deep breath and remarks sadly, “And Freya was here, but she’s gone now,” and Arthur couldn’t handle it if he let himself notice the tears at the corners of Merlin’s eyes.  
  
Merlin clears his throat and continues, “Sigan was here but I took care of him too,” he declared, squeezing Arthur’s hand. “He was trying to hurt you.” Arthur opened his mouth to speak, but Merlin added, “And Morgana of course.”  
  
His mouth snapped shut and then he asked hoarsely, “Morgana?”  
  
Merlin blinked and nodded, “Of course, she’s been here almost as long as I have.” He frowned sadly, “She used to be better but then they made me hurt Morgause and she’s not happy anymore.”  
  
Arthur held up a hand to quiet him and blinked at his shoes. Morgana, here. Morgana, his little sister who had gone missing years before? “What’s she look like?” Arthur asked, swallowing past his dry throat.  
  
“Oh, well, dark hair, like mine I guess,” Merlin commented, giving his a tug, “She’s pretty.”  
  
“She is,” Arthur agreed, blinking past the tears threatening to spill over. His baby sister in this kind of place, for years. And then his hand started shaking as he realized Uther had put her here. Their father had knowingly put her in here.  
  
He remembered her as a bright-eyed, fierce little thing that would never stand for Arthur’s trying to push her around. They may not have been related by blood – her parents had been family friends and had passed when they were both starting school, and Uther had taken her in as his ward – but they had been close. Arthur could remember years of stormy nights when she had woken screaming down the hall from him, of crouching by his door and hoping she was alright as he listened to Uther speak to her in calm, low tones.  
  
But he also remembered there had been a time once when a strange fire started in her room after one of those nights – strange because he hadn’t recalled her ever having candles in her room.  
  
It was shortly after that that she had disappeared.  
  
Merlin’s voice cut over his thoughts, “Arthur, calm down.” His hand caught Arthur’s chin and tilted it up. His eyes were surprisingly clear when Arthur’s met them, and his voice firm as he stated, “You have to be careful. You have to be smart. Don’t get angry and storm up there.”  
  
Arthur blinked at him and then nodded once, because Merlin was right. To get any of them out, he’d have to plan this carefully, and letting Uther know he had found out about all this would ruin everything. “Can I see her, do you think?” he asked Merlin.  
  
Merlin’s eyes cut to the side and Arthur’s heart sank. “She’s…” Merlin started, letting the word fade out, “She’s not like she used to be. I don’t think…” he heaved out a sigh, “I don’t think she’d react like you’re hoping.” He glanced up past Arthur and rolled his eyes, “Of course I can tell him, Gaius. I’m not keeping this from him.”  
  
Glancing over his shoulder, Arthur looked back at Merlin and asked, “Who are you talking to?”  
  
“Oh,” Merlin said, scrunching down so his ears were down by his shoulders, “I forgot I’m not supposed to….Gaius was….” He swallowed roughly and shrugged, “He tried to get me out. But he got caught.”  
  
Arthur squeezed their hands tight, “And?”  
  
“And then I started seeing him when no one else could,” Merlin replied, sadly, “Kilgharrah says he’s gone now.”  
  
Biting his lip, Arthur shook his head slightly and asked, “A rough estimate, how many of you are there?”  
  
Merlin shrugged, “Maybe twenty, there’s a lot of Druids and they only talk to me sometimes – they like Morgana more.” He blinked his eyes wide and looked at Arthur for a long moment, “You’re a great man, Arthur, to want to do this for us.”  
  
Arthur felt a blush rising on his cheeks and shrugged it off, “Why shouldn’t I?”  
  
“Not many people are brave enough to try,” Merlin informs him, voice low and serious, “You think this is a big secret, don’t you?” He waits for Arthur’s nod and continues, “Did you know some of this projects are for the military? They make us fight each other, to study how to harness our magic for weapons.” His voice is so earnest and his eyes so sincere, Arthur can’t pull himself away as Merlin squeezes his hand tight. “People know, Arthur, and they don’t do anything because of…because of your father.”  
  
The words come like a blow to the stomach and Arthur blinks at Merlin for a moment as the young man gazes back at him. “I…” the words taste like ash in his mouth, “I know.”  
  
“You do know, now, and you’ll do something about it,” Merlin says, with a smile, “And that makes you the great one I know you are.” Merlin leans close and presses his forehead to Arthur’s. Arthur closes his eyes as Merlin says softly, “Thank you.”  
  
No one’s ever said that so sincerely to Arthur before, no one’s ever been so confident in him, and Arthur knows right then that he’s going to do this. He’s going to get Merlin out of here.  
  
Merlin pulls back slowly and smiles at Arthur when he opens his eyes. Then he swallows and says, voice wavering, “Now put me in that water. Otherwise they’ll ask why I’m not all wet.”

  


Arthur spends the next week alternating viewing ‘experiments’ with Sarrum and arranging for Merlin to be brought up whenever he can make up a reasonable enough excuse.  
  
Speaking with Merlin is like nothing Arthur’s ever known. The young man has his quirks, but Arthur never brings them up, certain they sprout from his time spent strapped to tables and forced into experiments. He thinks to himself after a few days that if he and Merlin had met under different circumstances, they would have been good friends. Certainly they would have hated each other at first, but, Arthur knew it would have only taken some time before Merlin had grown on him.  
  
When he tells Merlin this, the young man gives him a shaky smile and says in reply, “We might have never met at all without this. That’s what got me through most days – hoping that I would meet you someday.”  
  
He’s still uncertain what to think about Merlin’s claim that he had known Arthur would come, that Merlin was apparently told they had some destiny together. Merlin tries to explain it one afternoon, shaking from being strapped to some odd device and forced to fight vicious little monsters he called wyverns. “If this were a thousand years ago,” he had said, “Your destiny would be to led men on a battlefield, to fight for what is right and just, to protect people like me from people like your father. And I would be at your side, keeping you safe from all those who wished to stop you.” And Arthur had looked at his hands, fingers twisted from being broken, and over his body, where scars were more common than freckles, and thought to himself that Merlin already did live on a battlefield, that if he could get Merlin away, he would keep him safe from all things.  
  
He would take over the world just to give Merlin some peace after this. Merlin’s eyes had caught his after that thought and the other man had smiled, eyes hard. “There are more like me,” Merlin had reminded him softly, “More like me all over the world. That’s what you’ll do, with me there with you, Arthur. You’ll give them all freedom just like me.”

  


The nights he has dinner with Uther, he restrains himself from overturning the table or throwing his knife at the man, keeping Merlin’s words in his head at all times. He spends his lunch hours with Gwen, and she finally tells him she’s there to try to help Morgana. “But she’s changed now,” Gwen tells him, sounding so heartbroken Arthur wants to pull her tight into his arms, “I don’t know if she’d ever be able to live outside of these walls without going completely insane.” But, she says in the end, she’s not going to be the last person to abandon Morgana.  
  
Without access to the security office, Arthur knows he won’t be able to get Merlin, and the others, out, so he plans to speak to Leon at their weekly footie match on Saturday. He needs to get them out over the weekend before the meeting with Uther on Monday. But, that Friday night, Arthur’s just about to sleep when his phone goes off.  
  
He answers it when he sees Sarrum’s name flashing – and the man is half-screaming down the line asking if Arthur gave anything to any of the subjects. When Arthur replies no, because he honestly hasn’t, Sarrum informs him, just a touch bit more calmly, that the subjects have somehow escaped from their cells. “They won’t be able to get off the floor,” he tells Arthur, though, “Not with those collars on. The elevator won’t activate if there’s anyone with one on inside.”  
  
“There’s no stairs down there?” Arthur asks and Sarrum laughs over the line in reply before answering no, it’s one way in, one way out down there.  
  
He sounds smug when he declares, “We should have this cleaned up by Monday. Come in at your usual time and I’ll call you if there’s any problems.”  
  
Arthur waits fifteen minutes after the call, sitting on the edge of his bed staring at his hands and taking deep breaths. He springs up and changes quickly, out the door in minutes. 

  


He knows there are always night guards posted on the entrances of Pendragon Company, but that the back entrance is less heavily guarded, since it’s exposed to the large delivery and parking area.  
  
But, Arthur’s careful to park his car on a street blocks away, walking the rest of the way so his vehicle doesn’t appear on any security tapes. As he approaches the back of the building, he notices there are only two guards on the door, while normally there are several patrolling the area and several stationed at each entrance. He had always wondered why his father insisted on such heavy security, and now he knows why, especially since most of the security force is probably inside looking for escapees on a night like this.  
  
It’s Gwaine and Lancelot on the door, Arthur notices when he approaches, and he puts on his best sheepish expression as he walks up. “Hello, boys,” he says with a nod as he extends a hand towards the door latch.  
  
Gwaine and Lancelot exchange a glance and Lancelot steps in front of him. “Sorry, Arthur,” he says, regret clear on his face, “No one’s allowed in tonight.”  
  
“I just have to pick up a document I forgot here. Need to it finish something before Monday for the boss,” he says, bumping Lancelot’s shoulder.  
  
Gwaine steps up to his side and shakes his head. “No one in, no one out,” he declares. “You can try again tomorrow.”  
  
Arthur clenches his hands at his sides and leans close into them. “I know what’s going on down there.”  
  
“Down there?” Lancelot asks, tilting his head slightly to the side.  
  
Huffing out a breath, Arthur nods, “You don’t need to play dumb. I know about the magic users in the lower levels.”  
  
Gwaine steps closer towards him, “What are you talking about?”  
  
Arthur blinks at them both. “You don’t know? But I thought you all alternated night and day duties.”  
  
Lancelot and Gwaine look at each other again and Lancelot grabs Arthur’s arm. “We’ve never seen any magic users.”  
  
Gwaine mutters under his breath, “No one out…” His face turns ashy and he grabs Arthur’s other arm, “You don’t mean…”  
  
Closing his eyes for a moment, Arthur nods and stares down at his shoes as he replies, “I found out just a few weeks ago…my father…”  
  
Lancelot squeezes his arm once before letting go. “They made it sound like there was something dangerous going on inside. Arthur, we can’t just let you go in there.” He tilts his head towards the security camera fixed on their position.  
  
Glancing up at it and then back at the two men, Arthur says softly, “There’s this one man, Merlin, I promised I would get him out. I can’t let you stop me.”  
  
And now Lancelot is the one to go pale, and he stumbles back slightly so his shoulder falls against Gwaine’s and the other man has to hold him up. “Oh, no,” Lancelot mumbles under his breath, eyes unfocused back over Arthur’s shoulder, “I swear I never told a soul. I swear.”  
  
Staring at him in shock, Arthur opens his mouth to speak and glances over at Gwaine. Gwaine’s eyes are wide and he quickly says, “We knew a Merlin in uni, first year, but he disappeared one day and….”  
  
“I never told anyone,” Lancelot declares fervently, hand coming up to grasp at Arthur’s shirt. “He made me promise.” He stumbles back out of Gwaine’s arms and slides his keycard in the door lock. He straightens up as he holds the door open and Lancelot says, voice shaking, “Go get him, Arthur. I’d come with you if I could but Gwaine and I will stay here so you can come back out this way.”  
  
Gwaine is blinking at Lancelot, but then he nods quickly and gives Arthur a shove towards the open door. “Merlin was one of the best lads I’ve ever known,” he declares, “You bring him back.”  
  
Arthur starts down the hallway to the sound of Lancelot saying behind him to Gwaine, “God, just think about his mother all these years….”

  


The building is quiet, even though Arthur expected there to be guards around every corner. Just as he’s thinking that, however, he rounds a corner to find several guards stationed in front of the elevator. He presses himself back against the corner and peers around the wall. They’re arranging a patrol it looks like, and the first one to be waved off is Leon, heading down the same hall Arthur is waiting in.  
  
Arthur glances over his shoulder, but there’s no place for him to hide, and when Leon rounds the corner, Arthur grabs him by the shoulder, other hand coming up over his mouth, and presses him hard against the wall. He presses his own shoulder into Leon’s chest and watches the man’s face turn red as he struggles to breathe.  
  
“Leon,” he hisses, as quietly as he can manage. Leon’s eyes snap to his and they go wide. “You have to trust me,” Arthur says slowly and clearly, “I have to get down that elevator.”  
  
Reaching up his hand, Leon slowly brushes away Arthur’s hand from his mouth and whispers back in reply, “You know I can’t. Why even…?”  
  
Arthur keeps his eyes locked on Leon’s and replies, “You know why. You have to trust me.”  
  
Leon’s eyes search for something in his face, and he must see it, because after a short moment, he nods and slumps against the wall. “I…I know, Arthur,” he says softly, voice defeated. “I would have done something, but you know how far Uther’s hand reaches.”  
  
Arthur peers around the corner, hand still pinning Leon to the wall. There’s only one guard remaining in front of the elevator now. “I know,” he replies as he leans back. “There’s only one left. Go take his place so you can let me down.”  
  
The taller man swallows roughly once and then nods, straightening up and pushing away Arthur’s hand. “Just a moment,” he says as he goes around the corner.  
  
Arthur waits, pressed back against the wall and heart racing in his chest, as Leon and the other guard mutter for a few moments before the sound of steps starts up and fades off. Leon gives a low whistle and Arthur comes from around the corner.  
  
The man is waving him over, eying the other corridors, and Arthur quickly makes his way over, pulling out his card for the elevator. Leon grabs his shoulder just as Arthur is going through the open elevator doors. His mouth opens and closes once before he says softly, “I’m sorry I can’t do more.”  
  
Arthur reaches up and squeezes his hand once, “Just make sure no one else goes down.” He pulls away and scans his card. As the doors start to slid shut, he meets Leon’s eyes and says firmly, “Thank you.”  
  
Leon nods and the doors shut on anything else he was going to say.

  


Just as the doors are opening, there’s a flash of light before Arthur’s eyes and he’s ducking before he can even process a thought. A crash sounds behind him and he rolls to see the wall above him scorched and wrecked.  
  
There’s a man standing in the doorway of the elevator, eyes wild and bright as he scans over the space. When he locks eyes with Arthur, he raises his hands and takes aim, eyes starting to flash and mouth opening to speak. Arthur squeezes his own eyes shut and brings his arms up over his head, as much as that will help, but there’s a loud shout and something heavy falls on Arthur.  
  
He opens his eyes to find the subject is collapsed across his legs, back smoking where some spell hit him, and Arthur turns his head to look out in the hallway. It’s full of smoke, or fog, and Arthur squints out as a figure approaches. The person is holding some sort of staff, blue light spreading from the tip, and Arthur sighs in relief when Merlin’s blue-tinted features are revealed.  
  
“Thank god,” Arthur says, shoving the other man off his legs and pushing himself up. He makes his way over to Merlin, grin matching the one on Merlin’s face, and grasps his shoulder.  
  
On closer inspection, he notices blood along Merlin’s brow, and that his left arm is dangling awkwardly, where he’s favoring his side as well. “What happened to you?” Arthur asks urgently, getting one arm around Merlin’s shoulders to support him.  
  
“Thank you, Merlin, for saving my life,” Merlin replies, mimicking Arthur’s voice as best he can. “You’re welcome, Arthur, glad I could help.”  
  
Arthur gives him a small shake and glances around. The doors of the elevator are still open – and Arthur remembers Sarrum saying it wouldn’t run if anyone with a collar was within. At the thought, Arthur snaps his gaze to Merlin’s throat, where the collar is still latched and powered up. “Here,” he says, reaching up and pulling it off with ease of practice.  
  
Merlin slumps into his side when he does, smiling up at him. Arthur looks down at the collar and frowns, “I thought you couldn’t use magic with this on.”  
  
Shrugging, Merlin shakes the staff up and down, “This helps. And it just makes everything weaker.” He nods at his left arm, “Not weak enough to prevent this though.”  
  
Arthur looks closer at his arm, where there’s a bad gash and some sort of puncture wound near his shoulder. There’s something wrong with his neck too – the collar of his white shirt covered in blood. When Arthur brushes a finger along the wound, Merlin winces, “Morgana. Gaius told me how to get it out but I think it might come back.”  
  
“It?” Arthur asks, turning Merlin to peer at his neck.  
  
There’s a deep wound, which looks like a rough blade wound. “Femorrah,” Merlin mutters, “Snake thing, I think she thought it would be funny.” He shrugs Arthur’s touch off and tugs him back around. “Arthur, all the experiments went haywire. I think Morgana and the Druids did something, but they have access to everything now.” Merlin gives the staff a wave, “It’s how I got this.”  
  
He smiles at Arthur then, which is surprising considering the news. “I got something for you too,” he adds, beaming at Arthur even as he sways and goes pale.  
  
Arthur swallows around his tight throat and settles Merlin back against the wall. He hears a crash and shouting from the down the hall as he pulls off his upper shirt, ripping it into strips to start binding Merlin’s wounds.  
  
He keeps one eye on the hall as he works, and eventually asks, “What’s the smoke from?”  
  
“Fog,” Merlin replies, wincing as Arthur pulls a strip tight around his arm and tying it off. “I made it so they couldn’t all find me easily.”  
  
“They?” Arthur asks, mopping up as much blood from the back of Merlin’s neck as he can.  
  
“I told you,” Merlin answers, sounding exasperated, “Did you hit your head in the elevator and forgot already?” Arthur gives him a stern look before going back to work and Merlin sighs out, “The Druids and Morgana and everyone. They don’t like me much.”  
  
“No?” Arthur asks, finally pulling back to face Merlin.  
  
Merlin shrugs and gives Arthur a conspiratorial smile, “It’s my job to protect you, and they don’t like that much.”  
  
“Well,” Arthur replies, giving Merlin’s side an awkward pat, “I’m here to protect you instead now, so we’ll be just fine.”  
  
Merlin snorts and starts pushing himself up off the ground instead of speaking. Steadying the staff, Arthur hovers as Merlin slowly manages to stand and push off the wall until he can lean on both Arthur and the staff.  
  
They exchange a small nod and Merlin starts down the hallway. “Where are you going?” Arthur asks, glancing back over his shoulder at the elevator.  
  
“Can’t leave them all here,” Merlin calls back, slowly stepping forward. “Can’t let Morgana out.”  
  
Arthur frowned and took a few steps forward, catching Merlin’s uninjured arm and tugging at him slightly. “What’s that supposed to mean?”  
  
The other is silent for a long moment, the hallway filling with the sounds of a distant alarm and the pounding of feet and shouts from further back. He glances over his shoulder at Arthur and says softly, “If she ever gets out, she’s going to kill Uther and then kill you and then come after me. I wasn’t able to…to stop her from becoming what she is. It’s my job to stop her.”  
  
“But,” Arthur protests, “But, why would she do that?”  
  
Merlin gives him a sad smile and turns back towards him. “I…understand what it feels like to want to kill Uther,” he admits. “But, she only wants to go after you because of what I did to Morgause.”  
  
“Morgause?” Arthur asks.  
  
The young man started to shrug in reply and Arthur caught him by his shoulder and squeezed tightly. “Why is Morgana here?” he asked, squeezing his hand tight around Merlin’s.  
  
The young man swallowed and shrugged slightly. “She’s….she’s incredibly powerful, like me. And she became more so after Uther brought her here and she learned from Nimueh and Morgause. And for what Uther wants, she’s maybe his best chance of actually succeeding.”  
  
“What he wants?” Arthur prompted.  
  
Merlin leans more fully against the staff as he opens his mouth to reply and Arthur’s eyes catch the sight of something moving over his shoulder. He shoves Merlin over towards the wall and pushes himself in front of him, trying to cover as much of the man as possible.  
  
Something is approaching through the fog, and Arthur squints his eyes to try to see it. “Is that…” he says slowly.  
  
“Oh,” Merlin breathes out, crushed between Arthur and the wall, “Morgana’s really digging through the artifacts now.”  
  
The thing lumbering towards them perhaps used to be a man, but is more skeleton than human anymore. Arthur flinches when a sound emerges from it, a moan low and long, and Merlin’s hand comes up to cover his eyes.  
  
Merlin mutters something Arthur can’t translate from behind him and Arthur can feel the staff brush against his side. There’s a loud smashing sound further down the hall and the moan cuts off.  
  
“There,” Merlin says, pulling his hand away. Arthur peers back out at the hall, which seems empty again. “I told you I’d be protecting you,” he huffs into Arthur’s ear, the closest thing to a laugh Arthur’s ever heard from him.  
  
“This time,” Arthur clarifies, pushing off the wall and tugging Merlin back upright.  
  
They take a few steps and Merlin says suddenly, “That’s what he wants.”  
  
Arthur glances over, confused, and Merlin clarifies, “Uther. That’s what he wants. Bringing someone back…it can be messy – you never get them back how they were, and sometimes that’s what you get instead.” Arthur starts to glance ahead at the thing again, but Merlin jerks at him until he stops. “You have to pay a price to bring someone back,” Merlin says earnestly, eyes fixed on him, “Uther has plenty of us here to pay that price, so he can try again and again. And Morgana’s here because she’s strong enough to attempt the spell.”  
  
Arthur blinks as he slowly realizes what Merlin is trying to say. “My mother…?” he asks, voice hoarse with shock.  
  
Merlin shrugs slightly before nodding his head. “This all started because of Nimueh, and what she did for your parents.” And suddenly Arthur is recalling a picture that sits on their mantle – of his parents on their wedding day, with a woman standing next to his mother with their arms linked, smiling at the camera. That woman, he’s suddenly sure, was Nimueh.  
  
“It won’t work,” Merlin’s saying as Arthur freezes in a daze, “Magic, magic isn’t for that. That’s not the point of it, and that’s why it never goes right. Even Sarrum knows that, but Uther won’t listen to anyone about it.”  
  
Arthur swallows and jerks his head up and down once. Merlin falls into silence beside him, and Arthur can feel Merlin’s concerned eyes fix on him every few moments. “I never would have imagined,” he explains softly, “That magic could be used for such things. That my father could do such things.” Merlin is a silent strong support next to him, and Arthur catches him up so that they can begin walking again.  
  
They make it down the rest of the hallway without meeting anyone, or anything else, though Merlin carefully turns Arthur’s head away when they pass by the thing in a still pile by the wall. “I left it up here,” Merlin tells him, without specifying what or where, and pulls at Arthur until he starts down the hall.  
  
“Where are the others?” Arthur asks, glancing around the set of hallways as they pass by the fork.  
  
Merlin shrugs, winces, and then shrugs again less dramatically, “Morgana’s probably trying to figure out how to bring the whole building down.”  
  
“What?” Arthur asks, but Merlin’s staring at the series of doors with an expression of concentration on his face.  
  
There’s a rustle behind them and Arthur turns to see a young man dressed all in black, holding a sword for some reason, and brandishing it at them. “Emrys,” he hisses, eyes fixed on Merlin, and then he slowly shifts his gaze towards Arthur. The man straightens and gestures at Arthur with his sword. “Unauthorized access after-hours is not permitted. Make your way to the exit or I shall be forced to take action against you,” he declares, voice ringing out in the hall.  
  
“Mordred, hush,” Merlin hisses back over his shoulder, staring at the doors still.  
  
Arthur glances between them. “Who is that? What does he mean?”  
  
Merlin shrugs and says, “They made him into a watchdog. Takes care of intruders and the sort. He’s supposed to kill any magic users outside their cells without permission to do so but…” he drifts off, glancing over his shoulder. “He’s probably been busy with that,” he finishes, nodding at Mordred’s blade, which Arthur now notices is dripping with blood.  
  
Mordred stares at them, unblinking, and says again, “Make your way to the exit or I shall be forced to take action against you,” in a monotone voice.  
  
“Er,” Arthur says, glancing around for something to counter a sword. At that moment, Mordred raises his other hand and his eyes flash as he mutters under his breath.  
  
Merlin sighs from behind Arthur and turns around, raising a hand of his own. “Arthur,” he says as light flashes out of Mordred’s hand and Merlin casts it to the side, “Go get it from the room.”  
  
“Get what? From where?” Arthur asks as Merlin, surprisingly strong now, grabs him by his shoulder and shoves him back. “Merlin!” he squawks, as he stumbles down the hall.  
  
Cursing over his breath in between flashes of light and shouts from behind him, Arthur quickly tries the door nearest to him. The room is empty, sets of drawers and cupboards overturned and strewn about the place.  
  
He turns back and ducks just in time for some sort of spell to crash into the wall above his head. Looking up to see a chunk of the wall missing, Arthur swallows roughly and starts crawling across to the next door.  
  
“Hurry up!” Merlin shouts back over his shoulder as he catches Mordred’s sword on his staff.  
  
Arthur huffed out a breath as he reached for the doorknob and shouted in reply, “I would be quicker if you told me what I was looking for!”  
  
Merlin makes a gesture at him that looks rather obscene and Arthur blinks at him for a moment before shaking his head and ducking into the room. There’s nothing but a steel table in this one and Arthur’s about to turn back when he notices something in the corner of the room.  
  
There’s a sword there, barely glinting in the darkness of the corner, and the tip seems to be set into the ground. Arthur shakes his head as he approaches it, looking down and frowning. “Merlin?” he calls over his shoulder.  
  
“Pull it out!” he hears Merlin cry back. There’s a pained grunt after and then, “Quickly!”  
  
Arthur gives the sword a tug and it remains set in the ground. “I don’t see how…” Arthur starts, cutting himself off when Merlin cries out in pain behind him.  
  
Wrapping both hands around the hilt, Arthur heaves back, thinking, I need this for Merlin, I need this to save him, as he does, and the sword slides free so easily he almost falls back to the ground.  
  
Sword in hand, Arthur charges back out into the hall, where Mordred is raising his sword over a Merlin slumped against the wall, panting with his eyes squeezed shut. Arthur shouts a wordless cry and runs towards Mordred.  
  
The young man turns to face him just as the sword is sliding forward, too slow to respond, and Arthur stares in shock as he collapses to the ground.  
  
“Good,” Merlin panted, scrabbling to push himself up. Arthur stares at Mordred on the ground, blood slowly pooling out from under him, and he feels his body start to shake.  
  
Merlin presses a hand against his shoulder and then kneels down next to the younger man. “I’m sorry,” he says, brushing his hand over Mordred’s face so his eyelids close. He remains there for a moment as Arthur stares down at the sword in his hand, and then Merlin reaches for Arthur’s hand and pulls himself back up.  
  
He looks Arthur in the eyes and says, “Thank you,” reaching out and brushing his fingers against Arthur’s tight grip on the sword. “If you hadn’t done that, I’d be dead.”  
  
“Right,” Arthur replied, voice suddenly hoarse because of a dry throat he didn’t know he had. “R-right then.”  
  
Merlin’s hip checked against his briefly before Merlin was wincing and wavering towards the wall again. Arthur shook his head and caught Merlin around the shoulders again with his free hand. “You’re okay,” he muttered as soothingly as he could, patting at Merlin’s back.  
  
Sighing softly, Merlin nodded and pressed his forehead against Arthur’s shoulder. “I’ll be okay,” he replied, voice soft, “I’ll be okay once we’re out because I’ll be with you.”  
  
Throat going tight, Arthur nodded, “Right, yes, you will be. We will be.”  
  
Merlin flashed him a smile and tugged at his hand. “Come on, I have to find Morgana.”  
  
They started down the hall again, and now the fog was finally clearing. “Any idea where she might be?” Arthur asked, flinching at every sound and squeezing his hand tight around the sword.  
  
Merlin shook his head, then winced again when his neck moved, “No.” He froze, left hand moving up to his neck and he muttered, “Not now…”  
  
“What is it?” Arthur questioned, turning quickly towards Merlin and cupping his neck.  
  
Merlin winced again when Arthur’s fingers brushed his wound, and it felt like something was moving under his skin. “The Femorrah,” Merlin hissed out, squeezing his eyes shut. “Quick, you have to cut it out.”  
  
“Cut what out?” Arthur exclaimed, turning to look at Merlin’s neck. There was something dark twisting under his skin, right where the wound had been before. “Bloody hell,” he groaned, “What is that?”  
  
Merlin groaned as it shifted again and hissed out, “Hurry, Arthur.”  
  
“Right, okay, yes,” Arthur murmured, pulling his pocketknife out as he put the sword down on the floor. He pushed Merlin up against the wall to brace himself and caught him by his uninjured shoulder. “On three then…” he started.  
  
Merlin shouted over him, “Now!”  
  
Arthur jabbed the knife forward, catching the edge of whatever it was and watching in horror as it squirmed under Merlin’s skin more. “Oh, god, oh, god,” he muttered as he worked the knife under it and tried to get leverage.  
  
Merlin was hissing and groaning all the while, tugging against Arthur’s grip on his shoulder. Arthur finally got the thing free, and nearly screamed when he saw it had the head of a snake and was still moving in his grasp. He flung it down the hallway and quickly pulled out another scrap of shirt from his pocket to press against the wound.  
  
“How’d you get that out the first time?” Arthur asked, when his heartbeat finally stopped pounding in his ears.  
  
There was a wry smile on his face as he looked up and Merlin winced out, “Very carefully.”  
  
Arthur snorted as he pulled the cloth away, wet with blood, and tossed it after the snake thing. He held out a steadying hand as Merlin stood up slowly, and quickly propped his shoulder up under Merlin’s weak side when he started to list.  
  
“Burn the Femorrah,” Merlin muttered under his breath, “You’ve said it a million times, Gaius, I know.” Arthur bit his lip as Merlin continued, shuffling under Arthur’s arm. “Burn it and use Excalibur on Morgana.”  
  
“Excalibur?” Arthur repeated.  
  
Merlin glanced up at him, seemingly startled, and then nodded. He smiled softly as he jerked his head towards the sword at Arthur’s feet. “Excalibur was made for you,” he stated proudly, and then gave Arthur a nudge towards it.  
  
As Arthur bent slightly to pick it up, he heard Merlin mutter, “Just like I was made for you.”  
  
He swallowed back his words as he straightened up. Hands occupied with the sword and most of Merlin’s weight, he tried to find a good balance as they started down the hallway.  
  
Just as he was opening his mouth, Merlin hissed a shush at him and pushed him towards a doorway with surprising energy. They hovered just within the room as Merlin’s eyes flashed gold and he peered out into the hallway.  
  
Several long moments passed and he muttered softly, “They’re gone. It’s okay now.”  
  
Arthur glanced out as well, but the corridor was empty and quiet. He glanced over at Merlin once and saw the man’s eyes fixed on his face. “I could see further down the hall,” Merlin informed him.  
  
Giving him a stiff nod, Arthur gripped Merlin gently again and pulled him out of the room. “Do you think I’m lying?” Merlin asked softly.  
  
Arthur shrugged slightly, instantly regretting the movement as it jostled Merlin roughly, and admitted instead, “No.”  
  
Merlin was silent for a moment and then he said, “I wouldn’t lie to you.” Before Arthur could speak, he added, “I used to lie a lot, because of my magic, but I would never lie to you.” He fell silent again and then confessed, “You’re all I have, Arthur. You’re all I’ve been thinking about for years.”  
  
“Years,” Arthur repeated under his breath. Clearing his throat, he asked firmly, “Where do you think Morgana is?”  
  
They shuffled down the hallway in silence, Arthur listening to the distant sound of breaking glass and Merlin panting at his side. “She’ll be trying to get to Kilgharrah’s cave,” Merlin finally said as they reached a split in the hall. “It’s the other way out of here.”  
  
“There’s another way?” Arthur asked in disbelief, pulling Merlin up short and turning him slightly to meet his eyes.  
  
Merlin nodded, “They brought him in from outside and left him down beneath the building in this cavern place. Gaius showed me how to get there – it was how he was going to get me out.” Merlin swallowed and then leaned close to Arthur, causing the tangy scent of blood to waft up into Arthur’s nose. “He said my dad knew Kilgharrah. I thought that was pretty neat.”  
  
The smile on his face looked a bit deranged, Arthur thought idly as he nodded back at Merlin. “How far is this way out?” he asked to pull his attention away.  
  
“A ways,” Merlin replied, letting Arthur turn them back to face forward and shuffling along down the hallway. He was panting again, and the young man added, “She only knows because Aithusa showed her.”  
  
“Right,” Arthur muttered, tugging him along. Excalibur was heavy in his hand, but Arthur forced himself not to look at it, at where the blood of that boy was drying slowly along the blade.  
  
Merlin suddenly hissed out a breath as they rounded another corner. Arthur glanced up, and was surprised to see they were back to the entrance of the floor – the elevator doors still open wide ahead of them. Now, however, his view was blocked by a woman who stood before the space, muttering loud enough to be heard down the hall.  
  
Merlin’s shoulder hit him in the chest and he let the other push him back against the wall as he watched the woman gesture with her hand. The body of the Druid from before slid slowly out of the elevator, and before the doors could shut, the woman shouted some words Arthur couldn’t make out.  
  
There was a long, low creak, and then the elevator slowly slid down, doors still open. Arthur watched in fascination as the structure disappeared out of sight down the shaft, listening as it creaked softly as it moved.  
  
She shouted again and there was a loud crash.  
  
Arthur glanced over at Merlin, pressed up against the wall next to him, and noticed the man’s pupils were wide and his breath was coming fast. “Merlin,” he whispered softly, reaching out to touch his shoulder, and Merlin flinched away from him.  
  
He looked over at Arthur a moment later and visibly relaxed, shoulders falling slightly and jaw unclenching. Merlin jerked his chin over at towards the woman and mouthed slowly enough that Arthur could read ‘Mor-ga-na’ from him.  
  
Turning his head back quickly, Arthur studied the woman before him. She didn’t look anything like his younger sister at first glance, but as he looked longer, he recognized the proud stiff set in her shoulders, the straightness of her posture, the near-hazel of her eyes…  
  
Her eyes, which were fixed on him with something akin to fury in them, and Arthur jerked back to slam his head against the wall when he realized she was starting right at him.  
  
Merlin groaned softly and pushed away from the wall. “Morgana!” he shouted, voice hard.  
  
The woman, his sister, Morgana, fixed her gaze on Merlin and she smiled, but the smile wasn’t the one from their childhood. Her eyes were hard now, her smile brittle and cold. “Emrys, finally crawl out of your hiding spot? And you brought a little friend too?” She gestured her hand at where Arthur was peeking out around the corner of the wall.  
  
Arthur took a single step forward, so he was still partially covered, reaching towards Merlin’s arm, as Merlin replied, “You know who this is.” He froze his arm between them, looking back towards Morgana.  
  
“Of course, of course,” she crowed, “The one you always talk about – my dear brother, Arthur. I’m sure you would have rather met under…more pleasant circumstances.”  
  
Merlin fixed a stiff glare on her and said softly, “We…you don’t have to do this.”  
  
Morgana laughed, the sound harsh in the quiet of the hall. “You’re wrong, like you always are, Emrys. Just like you were wrong when used the excuse of some great destiny to justify killing my sister.” She turned her gaze on Arthur and asked teasingly, “You do know, don’t you? How many he’s killed? All in your name?”  
  
Arthur glanced back at Merlin, who was holding his head stiffly, eyes fixed on Morgana still.  
  
“He’s done unspeakable things and claimed them to be for you,” Morgana continued.  
  
“Just as you have in the name of revenge,” Merlin cut over her. “Just as we’ve all done because we had no choice – because it was that or a painful, drawn-out death.” He glanced at Arthur out of the side of his eye and his fingers brushed against Arthur’s still outstretched hand.  
  
Arthur didn’t flinch. He thought of Merlin’s hands, stained with the blood of all those he had mentioned. He thought of his father, orchestrating this all from behind a heavy wooden desk, eyes never leaving a picture of his mother. He thought of Morgana, who had once been so happy and bright and was now this twisted thing before him. He looked down at his own hands, at the hands that had killed someone to keep Merlin safe.  
  
Arthur didn’t flinch because, even if Merlin was insane, even if Merlin was a murderer in Arthur’s name, well, maybe Arthur was a little bit insane in this crazy world he lived in too.  
  
“You’ll still have such a death,” Morgana declared suddenly, eyes flashing gold suddenly as she gestured violently with her hand. Merlin slammed into the far wall and Arthur turned towards him with a cry of his name.  
  
“Oh, no, no,” Morgana taunted, “That won’t do at all.” With anther quick gesture, Arthur went sliding down the hallway on his back, scrabbling for a handhold as he was flung towards the empty elevator shaft.  
  
There was a screech of metal as Excalibur was ripped from his hand, clattering into the shaft before him, and then Arthur was falling through the empty space.  
  
“No!” Merlin shouted behind him, and Arthur felt his body jerk hard in mid-air, as he was pushed towards the elevator cable still hanging down from above. Arthur quickly grabbed at it with both hands, sliding down quite a distance and feeling the friction burn on his fingers before he was jerked to a stop.  
  
“Don’t let go!” Merlin shouted from down the hall. “Arthur, don’t let go!”  
  
Arthur called back as loudly as he could, “Who would!”  
  
There was a shout from above and then hoarse coughing. Arthur stared up at the bright light of the opening above him, and tried pulling himself up slightly.  
  
He jerked in surprise when he heard a loud shriek. “How did you know?” Morgana shouted loudly as Arthur slipped down slightly.  
  
“Everyone knows to burn the body of a Femorrah,” Merlin taunted in reply, and then he let out a short grunt.  
  
Arthur stared up at the light, arms aching as he gripped the cable as tightly as he could. Merlin started to say something in that strange language, but Morgana shouted over him and there was a loud slam and a groan from Merlin.  
  
Wincing as something moved in front of the light above him and threw him into darkness for a moment, Arthur tilted his head to look back up.  
  
“Brother dear,” Morgana crooned, leaning over the edge of the elevator doors, “How can you even trust him? We grew up together and you’ve only known him little more than a week. He’s a liar, Arthur, you can’t believe a word he says.”  
  
Arthur felt his hands slipping on the cable, and he blinked up through the darkness of the shaft at Morgana. He could see the cruel smirk gracing her lips, could see the hint of insanity in her eyes. “You’re right,” he admitted softly, gripping the cable as tightly as he could between his fingers. He had known Merlin only a week. But, he thought, that week was enough. That week had felt like an entire lifetime.  
  
Her face broke into a broken smile and she threw her head back, cackling. In an instant, she was gone, turning away, and Arthur could hear her calling out, “Do you hear that, Emrys? Your great ‘destiny’ won’t even side with you!”  
  
As she continued above him, and Arthur winced when he heard what sounded like the impact of flesh on flesh and a pained grunt from Merlin, Arthur glanced over his shoulder to where Excalibur was caught beneath him on a small ledge.  
  
He grit his teeth and slowly removed one hand from the cable. Sliding down a bit, Arthur thrust his arm out and was barely able to catch his fingers around the grip of the sword. The skin of his hand was burning as he slowly slid down the metal cable and Arthur tried to stop his motion by gripping with his feet as well.  
  
It felt like ages, but it must have been only moments before his movement was finally arrested and Arthur could tug the sword towards his body carefully, shoving it between his belt and trousers as best he could. He glanced back up at the open doors, where the sound of Morgana speaking and Merlin crying out could still be heard.  
  
Arthur wrapped his free hand around the cable again and took a deep breath.  
  
He began to climb, each pull upwards a screaming in his shoulders, each breath burning in his chest. Excalibur tapped dangerously against his leg, edge a mere hair’s breadth away from slicing into him.  
  
When he finally drew level with the opening, Arthur peeked over the edge as best he could. Morgana was turned away from him, looking down at Merlin as the young man was curled over towards the floor. He had a hand over the back of his neck, and the other wrapped around his injured shoulder.  
  
Morgana was chanting something, something that made the hairs on the back of Arthur’s neck stand up. He glanced between the ledge and his hands, and as he turned his head, his eyes caught Merlin’s.  
  
The man blinked several times as they looked, and then his lips split and curled up into a mockery of a smile, blood coloring his teeth a bright red. His eyes fluttered closed a moment later as Morgana began to shout, and Arthur grit his teeth at the sight of the broken man in front of him.  
  
Arthur sprung off the cable as best he could, pushing with his feet against the metal as his shoes barely kept purchase, and stretched out his hands for the ledge.  
  
He caught on, barely, and the thud of his body hitting the wall was quiet in comparison to Morgana’s shouting.  
  
Arthur scrabbled with his feet against the wall as he pulled himself up. He could feel the point of Excalibur digging into his thigh as it was crushed between the wall and his leg, and he pushed down the pain as he managed to get his shoulders above the ledge.  
  
With a shout, Arthur clambered all the way out of the elevator shaft, drawing Excalibur from his waist as quickly as he could.  
  
Morgana was turning towards him as he took a step forward, words never ceasing to fall from her lips, and Merlin behind her was still.  
  
“You were right that I barely know him,” Arthur panted out as he approached his sister.  
  
She watched him come close, muttering under her breath now, eyes bright and lit with something that Arthur could only guess was amusement.  
  
“But,” he said, coming to a stop before her, “I certainly trust him more than you.” He raised the sword as he spoke, and watched her eyes go wide before him.  
  
Her hand shot out as he tried to stab forward, and Arthur was thrown back against the far wall, sword falling from his grip to clatter against the ground.  
  
Morgana smirked as she approached him, breaking from her spell as she said, “You are a fool, Arthur. I was planning to save you to kill in front of Uther’s own eyes, but you simply couldn’t be a good boy like usual and wait that long, could you?”  
  
She tilted her chin up, gazing down at him in satisfaction. “Do you think it will feel this good when Uther is the one at my feet?” Morgana extended a hand towards him and she said softly, “Goodbye, brother.”  
  
Arthur pushed weakly at the floor beneath his hands, strength suddenly gone as his head throbbed and his chest ached. Morgana’s eyes started to flash gold and she opened her mouth to speak.  
  
And then was gripping at her chest, staring down in shock.  
  
Arthur stared up at her, and then a wet droplet hit his cheek and he brought a shaking hand up to brush it away.  
  
There was red on his fingertips and Arthur looked back up to watch Morgana collapse as Merlin wavered on his feet behind her, a blood-stained Excalibur clasped in his hands.  
  
The other man looked down at Morgana, face blank, and then he turned towards Arthur and extended a hand.  
  
Shaking hand grasped shaking hand and Merlin offered a weak tug to help Arthur up.  
  
“She’s…” Arthur started.  
  
Merlin glanced at her again, and then passed over Excalibur. “No mortal blade can kill her. But that is no mortal blade.” He took a step towards the hallway, and then another, and just as Arthur started to think perhaps he had gained some strength back, Merlin went down to one knee.  
  
He was quick to reach his side, glancing over Merlin’s neck, which finally seemed to have stopped bleeding, and placing a hand on his shoulder.  
  
“The rest of them will be here soon,” Merlin told him, voice weak. “Arthur…I…”  
  
Arthur squeezed tight at the thin shoulder beneath his hand. “You can stop them. I,” he paused, swallowing, “I trust you.”  
  
Merlin’s eyes when he looked back up at Arthur were bright, nearly feverish, but Arthur gave a slight nod at the shock he saw there. “You said you would protect me,” Arthur reminded him, “Time to start pulling your weight.”  
  
Eyes flickering towards Morgana behind them, Merlin gave a short nod and nudged his shoulder into Arthur’s leg. “Not sure I can pull all of your weight. Might break my back trying.” He barked out an awkward chuckle.  
  
Arthur gripped tight again and encouraged, “Go on then,” just as he heard shouts and the pounding of feet from further down the hall.  
  
He watched the young man swallow roughly, nodding his head to himself, and then Merlin ducked his head. Foreign words bubbled out from his lips as he knelt there, and then Merlin slammed his hand against the floor.  
  
Arthur held tight as the entire hallway rolled and the walls creaked loudly. Merlin pressed back against his leg, panting, eyes glowing and fixed down the hall. There was another shudder, then another, growing in strength, and then a whole section of the ceiling before them collapsed to the floor.  
  
There were cries ahead of them, from the Druids, and Arthur winced as he heard a cut-off scream.  
  
The entire floor was shaking and, as he watched, Arthur saw something from the floor above was crashing down through the hole in the ceiling.  
  
“Merlin?” he shouted, shaking his shoulder.  
  
Merlin’s reply was just loud enough he could hear it over the chaos. “Kilgharrah…” he muttered, “Have to get to Kilgharrah…”  
  
Biting off a groan of frustration, Arthur managed to get his shoulder under Merlin’s arm so he could tug him up. “Well?” he asked, jostling the man roughly and watching as Merlin pointed shakily at the elevator.  
  
“I’m not going back in there,” Arthur informed Merlin blandly as he slowly tugged him along towards it.  
  
The floor shook and shuddered under their feet as Arthur pulled Merlin down the hallway. From the corner of his eye, Arthur watched cracks spread up the walls, popping loudly and sending plaster spraying across the floor.  
  
“Merlin,” he said again, raising his voice over the noise, when they reached the edge of the elevator doors.  
  
“You trust me?” Merlin muttered. Arthur glanced at him, looking over his half-slit eyes and bleeding lips and one large, goofy ear.  
  
“I trust you,” Arthur replied, hands gripping tight at the back of Merlin’s shirt and Excalibur simultaneously.  
  
A small smile curved over Merlin’s lips, and he started to take a step forward, pulling out from under Arthur’s arm. He caught Arthur’s free hand as Arthur reached out after him, and, with a tug, pulled Arthur down the shaft into darkness. 

  


“Bloody hell!” Arthur shouted, jolting up off the ground into a sitting position.  
  
He glanced around and spotted Merlin a short distance away. “What was that?” he shouted, voice hoarse from his dry throat.  
  
Merlin glanced over his shoulder at him and then turned away. “Not quite what I imagined either,” he stated, head tilted up and eyes fixed on something.  
  
Arthur blinked, realizing he was only able to see a short distance due to the limited light. Everything near him was tinted a faint blue, and he glanced over his shoulder to see a floating orb of light, one he recalled seeing before in what felt like another lifetime now. “Oh,” he exhaled slowly, glancing back at Merlin, and thinking of a night in his apartment when he had nearly been crushed by a wardrobe, “So it was you then too.”  
  
Merlin was still chatting away, words softer now, and Arthur called out, “Who are you talking to now? Someone else haunting you as well?”  
  
The look Merlin sent him couldn’t be called anything but scathing, and Merlin said slowly, as if Arthur was the most clueless person in the world, “It’s Kilgharrah.”  
  
Arthur blinked at him, and then pushed himself up slowly. “Kilgharrah?” he repeated, shuffling close and realizing with shock that he was still gripping Excalibur for some reason. He honestly hadn’t thought Kilgharrah was real. “Who is…”  
  
He broke off as he reached Merlin’s side and tilted his head back.  
  
“Oh, hell,” Arthur muttered as he closed his eyes and turned his head away. “That’s…that’s a giant skeleton,” he informed Merlin, squeezing his eyes shut.  
  
Merlin nudged him in the side with a sharp elbow. “Don’t say that. He’s a fine dragon.” When Arthur opened his eyes to give Merlin a look, Merlin corrected, “He was a fine dragon. But he certainly can still understand you.” He paused again and then added, “Kilgharrah says you’re a prat.”  
  
“He does not,” Arthur snapped back, wriggling to get Excalibur tucked under his belt again.  
  
Merlin grinned at him. “Alright, that was me. But he says he thinks you’re a bit odd.”  
  
Arthur took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “The…the living dragon skeleton thinks I’m the odd one?”  
  
Merlin’s hand caught around his wrist, and Arthur could feel how the other man was trembling and, looking closer, saw how his smile was brittle and his eyes drooping. He let Merlin tug him around closer to the, well, to Kilgharrah.  
  
“Whoa,” he exclaimed as Merlin’s hand fell to his waist. “What are you…”  
  
Merlin tugged at Excalibur and smirked at Arthur. There was a flush on his cheeks, Arthur was just sure of it, but he cleared his throat and watched as Merlin stumbled over towards what looked like a long length of thick chain.  
  
With a groan, Merlin raised the sword above his head, and shouted something that echoed through the chamber as he swung the sword down.  
  
It clanged loudly against the chain, and with a crash, the coarse metal split and fell to the ground in two pieces. There was a creaking behind him, and Arthur steeled himself not to turn around, and then Merlin was making his way over to Arthur’s side again.  
  
He tripped within arm’s length of Arthur, and Arthur was just able to get his hand out of Excalibur’s way to catch Merlin carefully by the injured shoulder.  
  
“Come on,” Merlin said softly, tucking the sword back into its place at Arthur’s side, “I always wanted you to be the first one to ride him with me.”  
  
“Er…” Arthur said, allowing Merlin to tug him along back towards the shifting white thing, “Not too sure if that will be comfortable.”  
  
Merlin continued to tug at his hand, a wince coming over his face, and Arthur gave in just to see him stop hurting. They passed another pile of bones – this one still and silent. Arthur tilted his head towards it and Merlin let out a sad sigh. “Aithusa,” he muttered softly, nearly crooning the name. “I always wished she could have flown the sun someday, but she…didn’t last very long down here as she was.”  
  
Distracted by his study of the sad little pile, Arthur turned and was surprised to find they were already at the feet of Merlin’s Kilgharrah.  
  
“Go on,” Merlin said, pushing at him, “Climb on up.”  
  
“I…” Arthur started, squinting in the dim blue light up at the expanse of white before him. “Where would I even go?”  
  
Merlin sighed loudly in exasperation, and then broke off into a hoarse cough. He jerked a finger up as he swallowed back further noise and pointed at a certain spread of bone. “It’ll be smooth, don’t worry.”  
  
Arthur swallowed and reached out with one hand, shuddering at the roughness of bone under his fingertips, and slowly began to pull himself up. It wasn’t far, and Merlin was right, he thought as he settled down behind what would have been the dragon’s neck, legs spread wide as he straddled a part of the spine, it was smooth.  
  
Merlin’s eyes were bright, blue reflected clearly even down where he was, as he looked up at Arthur. Arthur leaned down despite the protest of his aching back, and stretched out a hand towards Merlin.  
  
There was a flash of teeth, there and gone, and then Merlin was gingerly taking his hand and half-supporting himself as Arthur tugged him up with a long groan. Merlin settled behind him, chin dropping to rest on Arthur’s shoulder and arms wrapping around his waist. “There,” he whispered, hoarseness of his voice less noticeable now, “Not so bad.”  
  
Arthur squeezed his eyes shut as there was a clicking, rustling sound, and then his stomach dipped as they lifted off the ground.  
  
“Where do you want to go?” Arthur called over his shoulder as they picked up speed, swooping along some dark passage that would hopefully lead to the outdoors.  
  
Merlin’s breath was warm on his ear as he replied, “I was thinking, maybe, a visit to my mum’s? In Ealdor?”  
  
The night air was crisp and cool as they broke out into the darkness. Arthur glanced over his shoulder to look at Pendragon Company, which looked seemingly undisturbed after the events of that night.  
  
“Yes,” he said softly. “Ealdor then.”

  


 

  


To: apen@pendragon.co.uk  
  
From: lancedluc@pendragon.co.uk

  


Arthur,  
  
I hope you check this soon. There has been no news about the lower levels here – it was covered up very well by your father, I believe, and most of the employees don’t even know about the events of last night.  
  
Were you able to get him out? Leon said you never returned, but I thought I saw something in the sky late in the night.  
  
Please respond to this as soon as possible. Gwaine, Leon, and I all wish to know how you both are.  
  
Lancelot Du Lac

**Author's Note:**

> If only I had spent several more weeks working on this, to flesh out backstory and fill the plot holes - but this semester's been busy for me!  
> Hope this fills the prompt to satisfaction! And that it fits the 'horror' category a bit (horror is hard!).


End file.
